This invention relates to sewing devices in general and, in particular, to a new and useful device for making darts on cut parts of garments for use with a sewing machine which includes an adjustable pleating bar which may have its movement limited by at least one multi-step stop.
In the known devices for making darts, for example, in the sewing system known from German Pat. No. 16 60 839, a table top carrying a pleating bar is disposed before the sewing table top in the plane of the table top bearing surface. The table top is fastened on two sliding rods which are mounted slidable toward the sewing machine in guides disposed under the sewing table top and pivotable about the longitudinal axis of the needle, so that the table top can be adjusted with the pleating bar determining the form of the dart at an angle to the feed presser bar leading the work past the stitch-forming point on the sewing table top. The pivot range of the table top is limited by stops and the angular position can be read on a scale. The dart depth, which depends on the garment size, is determined by the angular position of the pleating bar around which the garment to be made is folded, and by the position of the garment parts on the pleating bar. Marks may be provided for positioning or the pleating bar may have a corresponding form. The above-mentioned scale is the only means for changing the angular position of the table top with respect to the pleating bar.
It has been found that it is extremely difficult to bring the table top with the pleating bar repeatedly into exactly defined angular positions by this means. The setting must be especially precise for the sewing of pleats in pleated skirts, because a deviation from the nominal pleat depth of as little as 0.1 mm per pleat will add up to a considerable deviation from the garment size, which is unacceptable in the industry. In making pleated skirts, it is furthermore a requirement to vary the number or depth of the pleats in the back of the skirt as compared with the number or depth in the front of the skirt. Accordingly, the position of the pleating bar must be changed as soon as the pleats of one skirt part are sewn.